The Texas Tech football program was closing in on filling two vacancies on its coaching staff within one day after Joey McGuire completed interviews.
The Red Raiders were finalizing the hire of Imarjaye Albury Sr. to be the new defensive line coach, two sources with direct knowledge said on Wednesday, Feb. 11. Albury has been on the Minnesota Vikings’ staff for six years, serving in 2025 as the team’s assistant defensive line coach.
Advertisement
He would fill the role vacated by Zarnell Fitch, a charter member of McGuire’s staff since 2022. Fitch’s one-year contract expired on Jan. 31, and a Tech athletics spokesman said his deal was not renewed.
Albury, 32, served as a defensive quality control/assistant linebackers coach for the Vikings in 2020 and 2021, was a pro scout for the team in 2022 and then worked as a defensive assistant in 2023 and 2024.
More: Texas Tech football to have Friday night lights spring game
More: Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt reveals big increase in scholarships
According to his Vikings’ biography, Albury played college football for West Virginia in 2012 before transferring to Florida International, where he was a three-year starter on the defensive line and earned the program’s defensive MVP award in 2016. After brief stints at NFL rookie minicamps, he began coaching in 2017 at Division III Cortland State.
Advertisement
He later had quick stops with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, East Carolina, NAIA Ave Maria, and Arkansas. He was a defensive graduate assistant for the Razorbacks in 2018 and 2019.
He attended Miami Northwestern High School.
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – OCTOBER 11: Defensive Coordinator Shiel Wood of the Texas Tech Red Raiders signals to the defense during the second half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 11, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
Earlier Wednesday, Tech was also working on an agreement to hire former Missouri and NFL player Jacquies Smith to coach the Red Raiders’ edge defenders, according to two sources with direct knowledge.
Smith would fill the position left vacant when the Pittsburgh Steelers hired C.J. Ah You last week.
Speaking Tuesday night at a Red Raider Club function in Midland, McGuire said he was finished interviewing for the two positions — a total of five candidates — and was hoping to announce the hires within a couple of days.
Advertisement
Tech finished 12-2 this past season, winning the Big 12 and losing in the Orange Bowl, a College Football Playoff quarterfinal. The Red Raiders led the FBS in rushing defense and turnovers gained this season and finished third in both scoring defense and total defense.
The front four was a key, with edge defender David Bailey earning unanimous all-America recognition and edge Romello Height voted first-team all-Big 12 by the conference’s head coaches. Defensive tackle Lee Hunter and A.J. Holmes both received second-team all-America honors.
This story was updated with more information.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football finalizing hire of NFL staffer Imarjaye Albury Sr.
